Prof. Pericles A. Mitkas received his Diploma of Electrical Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1985 and an MSc and PhD in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University, USA, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. Between 1990 and 2000 he was a faculty member with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University in USA, where he directed the Optical Computing Laboratory.

Since 1999, Dr. Mitkas has been a faculty member with the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he has served as Director of the Laboratory for Information Processing and Computing, Associate Head, and Head of the Department. He has also served as the Director of the University IT Department.

In 2014, Prof. Mitkas was elected as University Rector, a position equivalent to President, where he served until 2019. Aristotle University is the largest university in Greece, with some 70.000 students and a healthy funded research program. During his term in the office, his main goal was to strengthen the international programs and collaborations of Aristotle. In 2017-18, Prof. Mitkas served in the Presidency of the Greek Rectors Synod. In 2018-19, he served as President of the Balkan University Association and he is currently serving a two-year term (2018-20) as the President of the Black Sea University Network.

From 2001 to 2014, he collaborated with the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) at the Centre of Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), and served as its Deputy Director for 7 years. He was a Member (2006-10) and President (2009-10) of the Provisional General Assembly of the then newly established Department of Computer Science and Biomedical Informatics of the University of Central Greece, in Lamia.

Prof. Mitkas has taught Databases, Software Engineering, and Data Mining courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. He has supervised 16 Ph.D. dissertations, 19 Master’s theses, and more than 135 Diploma Theses in Greece and in the US. His research interests include databases and knowledge bases, data mining and machine learning, software agents and intelligent systems, and bioinformatics. His work has been published in over 320 papers, book chapters, and conference publications. He is the co-author of a book on Agent Intelligence through Data Mining.

Prof. Mitkas has been the coordinator of numerous research projects in Greece and the US, several of which involved industrial partners.

Zoi Lygerou is Professor of Biology and Genetics at the Medical School of the University of Patras. She is Director of the Gen. Biology Department and the diagnostic Molecular Genetics Unit of Patras Medical School, Director of the Institute of Precision Medicine of the University Center of Research and Innovation and Director of Studies of the Interdepartmental MSc Program «Life Sciences Informatics» at the University of Patras.

She holds a degree in Biology from the University of Athens and a PhD in Biology from the University of Heidelberg for her work at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. She held postdoctoral research appointments at the EMBL in Heidelberg and at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London (Cancer Research UK).  Her lab studies how cells maintain a stable genome and how aberrations are linked to disease, focusing on cancer and rare diseases and employing imaging, genetics and modeling approaches. She has received funding from the ERC, the EU and several international and national funding agencies.

She has extensive experience in Research and Education Policy at the National and International level. She serves on the Council of the European Molecular Biology Organization. She is a member of the Evaluation and Accreditation Council of the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education and Chair of the Sectorial Scientific Council on Biosciences and Medicine of the National Council of Research, Technology and Innovation of Greece. She has served as a member and Chair of the EMBO Courses and Workshops Committee, National Representative on the European Mission Cancer and member of the Research Council of the University of Patras (Research Committee). She is elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Zoi Gavriilidou is a graduate of the Department of Philology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a Ph.D. from Paris XIII University. She is currently a Professor of Linguistics at Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH) and has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago for two consecutive years. At DUTH, she has held key positions, including Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Student Welfare, Dean of the School of Classical and Humanities Studies, and Chair of the Department of Greek Philology. She has also chaired several important university committees, such as the Quality Assurance Unit, the Graduate Studies Committee, the Ethics Committee, and the Student Welfare Council, in addition to serving as the Institutional Coordinator for the University’s Internship Program.

Prof. Gavriilidou has been involved in working groups for the European University Association and is a certified evaluator for the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). She has also served as President of the European Association for Lexicography, coordinated the Network of Teaching and Learning Support Offices (KEDIMA) for Greek universities, and led the English-language BA Program in Hellenic Studies at DUTH.

Throughout her various leadership roles, particularly as Chair of the Quality Assurance Unit and Coordinator of the KEDIMA Network, she placed a strong emphasis on promoting equitable access and inclusion within Greek higher education. She was a member of the expert committee responsible for the "New School – 21st Century School" initiative, which reformed the language and literature curricula. In 2022, she completed the curriculum for teaching Greek as a Heritage Language in the United States, commissioned by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

She has authored nine books, over 140 journal articles, and edited 17 collective volumes. She has also led or contributed to several research projects, either as Principal Investigator—such as in the THALES project on learning strategies and the ESPA project on heritage languages—or as a coordinator of subgroups, including the ELIDEK Elefys project, the "Digital Thrace" project on Regional Excellence, and the Erasmus MAGNET project.

Her recent research focuses on literacy in artificial intelligence and the development of curricula to integrate AI into education.

Emmanouil Giakoumakis is a Professor at the Department of Informatics of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). He first joined the University in 1990.

His teaching, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, revolves around Software Engineering, Programming Languages and Regulation in the Electronic Communications Market.

His research similarly focuses amongst others on Software Engineering, Biomedical Applications, Regulation and Competition in the Electronic Communications Market and Telecommunications Policies.

In parallel to his academic career Prof. Giakoumakis has extensive senior management experience, having served in numerous executive positions in both academia and Government:

• Rector, Athens University of Economics and Business (2015 - 2020)
• Vice Rector, Athens University of Economics and Business (2011 - 2015)
• Chairman, Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (2000 - 2005)
• Secretary General of Communications, Ministry of Transport and Communications (1998 - 2000)
• Chairman and Managing Director, Hellenic Information Systems Societe Anonyme (ELSYP SA) (1995 - 1997)
• Head, Informatics Division of the Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government (EETAA) (1988 - 1990)

George-John Nychas received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Bath (UK) and he is a Professor Emeritus of the Agricultural University of Athens and visiting Professor in the Sangdong Agricultural University in China.

He served as Dean of the School of (i) Biotechnology, Food and Development (2017-2019) and (ii) Food and Nutritional Sciences (2019- April 2020).

During the last 30 years, he has coordinated seven (7) and participated in more than thirty (30) EU projects (budget >15 M €). Through these projects, the research team of Prof. Emeritus G-J., Nychas has acquired extensive experience in: (a) modelling the microbial behaviour throughout the food chain to assist in reliable estimation of microbial food safety risk; (b) implementation of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) and Internet of Things (foods) in the food industry via the introduction and utilization of sensors; (c) the assessment of food safety and spoilage through rapid non-destructive / invasive instruments in tandem with data mining and machine learning approaches; and (d) behaviour / physiology (quorum sensing, biofilms etc.) of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms under stress conditions.

So far, he has published 327 papers (Scopus) with ca. 20100 citations and h-index=77.

He served as co-chair (2008-2010) in the Professional Development Group of “Microbial Modeling and Risk Analysis" of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), member of the Biohazard panel and the Advisory Forum of EFSA (2003-2007), external expertise to the European Parliament (2005-2007), President of the Greek Food Authority (2010-2011) and member of the ERWG of EFSA (2012-2015).

Currently, he is (i) Chairman of the food safety group of the European Technological Platform “Food for Life”, (ii) member of the pool of scientific advisors on risk assessment for DG SANCO, and (iii) member of the National Agricultural Academy.

He has been listed among the (i) Most Cited Scientists from Greece [http://food-science.agro.auth.gr/GR/iframe/Most%20cited%20Greek%20scientists%202.pdf], (ii) Highly Cited Researchers (0.1%) (Source: Clarivate Analytics), (iii) 2% of highly cited researchers [Uninterrupted Continuous Presence (UCP)] for at least five (5) articles in each and every year (PLoS Biol. 17 (8): e3000384) and its updates i.e., 2017 till now)

He has been awarded with (i) the IAFP’s “International Leadership Award” (2017, USA), (ii) Fellow (2022) and (iii) the degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from the University of Bath (UK) (2019).

Finally, more than fifteen (18) of his Ph.D. students have been employed as professors (7) and senior researchers in national and international universities and research institutes, respectively.

Ariadni Stogiannidou is a graduate of the School of Philosophy (department of Education and Psychology) of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She holds a Master of Arts in Psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical and School Psychology) degree from Hofstra University, New York.

She is a professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology of Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. She is affiliated with the Department since 1988. From 1987 to 1990, she worked at The Center for mental health (public sector)). From 1986 to 2000, she held a private practice as a Clinical and School psychologist. She has been, also, actively involved in the areas of qualitative market research and personnel selection.

Her research interests evolve around psychological diagnostic methods and assessment, as well as interventions for children, families and vulnerable groups. She has co-authored two books and has approximately 85 publications in scientific journals and has participated as presenter in over 100 international and national conferences. 

She was the scientific director for the Greek standardization of the Wechsler Scales, which are the most used scales for intelligence assessment, globally. The Adult Wechsler Scale was standardized for the first time in the Greek population [(2014). WAIS-IV Gr Administration and Scoring Manual. Greek standardization edition. Athens: ΜΟΤΙΒΟ], while the Children’s Scale is the second edition for Greece, after 20 years [ (2017). WISC-V Gr Administration and Scoring Manual. Greek standardization edition. Athens: ΜΟΤΙΒΟ].

She is a member of national and international scientific associations and has served as member of the board and officer in the Association of Greek Psychologists and in the Hellenic Psychological Society. She has been a regular member of the Psychologist’s Committee of the Hellenic Ministry of Health and served (2001-2016) as a member of the National Psychology Committee for the accreditation and delivery of the EuroPsy Certificate of the European federation of Psychologists. She is a founding member of the Hellenic Association for Peer Counseling.

From to 2013 to 2017 she was the elected Editor of the Journal PSYCHOLOGIA (APA listed) of the Hellenic Psychological Society.

From 2015 to 2019 Ariadni Stogiannidou served as Vice Rector for Student and Academic Affairs at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Within this framework, she has been scientific responsible and actively involved in numerous projects relevant to the national and international Higher Education Area. As the president of AUTh’s Quality Assurance Unit, she successfully carried out the University’s External Evaluation, (29.11-5.12.2015) receiving «Worthy of merit». Also, she carried out the Accreditation procedure for the Internal System for Quality Assurance (July 2019). Aristotle University has been deemed as fully compliant.

CV of DIMTRIOS TSAMAKIS 1. EDUCATION 1986 : Bachelor of Physics from Department of Physics, National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). 1976-1980 : Scholarship for postgraduate studies and PhD Thesis at NCSR “Demokritus”. 1983 : PhD in the area of “Structures with application in Microelectronic Technology” from Department of Physics of NKUA 2. PROFESIONAL ACTIVITIES 1984-1989 : Professor at TEI of Piraeus. 1989-1991 : Research Scientist at Institute of Microelectronic – NCSR “Demokritus” 1991 : Assistant Professor at Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) of National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). 1997 : Associate Professor at Department of ECE-NTUA. 2002 : Professor at Department of ECE-NTUA. 3. RESEARCH INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES His research interests have focused on: Fabrication and characterization of Si-based Microelectronic devices as MOSFET, MOS with nanoparticles -application in memory devices . Gas sensors based on metallic oxides.Thin film deposition techniques. He has participated in National and European research projects in the mentioned above areas. He has published more than 60 papers in International journals with more than 700 citations and h index 16 in Scopus. Reviewer for International and National projects and International journals. 4. EDUCATION ACTIVITIES Teaching of Undergraduate courses: Electronic Materials, Semiconductor Devices, Microelectronic Technology, Structure and Electrical Properties of Materials. Participation and teaching of courses in the Postgraduate program “Microsystems and Nanodevices” for Postgraduate Diploma. He established the Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Nanoelectronic Devices and equipped it with modern infrastructure for the education of students and the development of research in Micro and-Nanoelectronics. He has supervised a total number of 25 diploma or postgraduate diploma as well as 10 candidates οbtained the Ph.D. 5. ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBIL 1997 and 2003 : Member of Senate of NTUA. 2004 - 2010 : Member of Research Commission of NTUA. 2010 - 2014 : Coordinator of the project – ESPA. 2014 - 2016 : Director of the Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Nanoelectronic Devices. 2004 - 2006: 2011 - 2013 : Director of Division “Electromagnetic Applications – Electrooptic and Electronic Materials” of ECE. « « « « 2006 - 2008 : Head of Department of ECE-NTUA. 2008 - 2010 : Head of Department of ECE-NTUA. 2013 - 2016 : Dean of School of ECE-NTUA. 2016 - 2018 : President of National Commission οf Telecommunication and Post. As head of School he emphasized on improving the quality of studies, the infrastructures and the administrative services of the School. 20/01/2020: He was declared an Emeritus Professor of NTUA by decision of the Senate.

Curriculum vitae

Professor Katerina Fountedaki (16.4. 2020)

 Family name: Fountedaki

• First names: Aikaterini (Katerina)
• Nationality: Greek
• Education: Degree of Law, grade 9,9/10, Diploma of Postgraduate Studies in Civil Law, grade 10/10, Ph.D., Civil Law, grade A (age: 25)

Present position:    

a) Attorney  at Law since 1992

b) Full Professor of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, Department of Civil Law Procedural Law and Labour Law, Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki

c) Member of the Deanship Board of the  Faculty of Law

d) Vice President of the National Authority of Medically Assisted Procreation

e) Member of the Supreme Special Court

6. Language skills: Greek, French, English, German, Spanish

7.  Membership of legislative/ professional bodies, university committees and scientific associations:

• Thessaloniki Bar
• Council of Europe Working Party of experts on Adoption (CJ-FA-GT 1), assigned with the preparation of the new European Convention on Adoption of Children (2004-2008)
• 6 Ministry of Justice Committees or Working Parties for reforms on Family Law
• Appointed Chairperson of the Council of the E.U. Working Party on Civil Law Matters (Matrimonial Property Regimes and Registered Partnerhips), during the greek presidency of the E.U (2013).
• Co- founder and Member of the U.Th. Laboratory for the Research of Medical Law and Biethics
• Member of the Board of the Hellenic Family Law Society
• Secretary general of the Board of the Association of Greek Civilists.
• Former Member of the Board of thr National Academic Recognition and Information Center (Δ.Ο.Α.Τ.Α.Π.) (2014-2016)
• Member of the Association for Medical Law and Bioethics
• Former Τreasurer (now member) of the Association of Medical Law and Bioethics
• Former member of the Legal Committee of A.U.Th.
• Former Director of the Department of Civil Law Procedural Law and Labour Law (2017-2018)
• Former Member of the Executive Board of the Faculty of Law (2017-2018)

8. Fields of interest: Civil law, Family Law, Property Law, Law of Torts, Protection of Personality, Civil Liability, Professional Liability (especially medical liability/ malpractice), Bioethics, Biomedicine, Medically assisted procreation.

9. Teaching: 1) Undergraduate Program: General Principles of Civil Law, Property Law, Tort Law, Law of Legal Transactions, Special Lessons for synthesis in Civil Law

2) Postgraduate Program: Medical Liability, Artificial Procreation and kinship, Special issues of Civil Liability and Compensation

4) Seminars of specialization of the National School of Judges (Medical Liability)

10. Publications: 93 publications (Books, extended participations in collective works and consecutive updates, articles- studies- consultatory responses- notes on court decisions). Ηer work is constantly referred to by greek courts (more than 55 references in published decisions) and theory (more than 950).

11. More than 100 participations in colloquies, conferences and seminars (greek and international, legal, medical and interdisciplinary)

Vassilis Charmandaris was born and raised in Serres, Greece. He completed his undergraduate studies in Physics at the University of Thessaloniki in 1989 and continued his graduate studies in the US where in 1995 he obtained a PhD in Astrophysics at Iowa State University. He then moved to France, originally as a postdoctoral fellow at the Astrophysics section of CEA/Saclay (1996-1997) and as a Marie Curie fellow at the Observatoire de Paris. In 1999 he moved back to the US and spent 6 years at the Astronomy Department of Cornell University. There he worked on the development of the Infrared Spectrograph of the Spitzer Space Telescope, which was launched by NASA in August 2003.

In 2005, Dr. Charmandaris joined the faculty of the Department of Physics of the University of Crete and he is currently a Professor of Observational Astrophysics.

From 2013 until 2018 he served as the Director of the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens. Since March 2019 he is the Director of the Institute of Astrophysics at FORTH, as well as the Director of Skinakas Observatory. As of 2020 he is also the President of the Hellenic Astronomical Society.

His main research interests are in the area of observational extragalactic astrophysics. He is using observations mainly with infrared and millimeter telescopes in order to probe the properties of dust, molecular gas depletion, and star formation in interacting galaxies and galactic nuclei hosting super-massive black holes in the local and distant universe. He has published over 240 refereed papers which have received over 23,000 citations (according to Google Scholar). He has also coordinated a large number of research programs funded by national and European agencies, including ESA and NASA.

He has served as member of various scientific councils including INSU/CNRS (2019-2023), Observatoire de Paris (2015-2020) and IRFU/CEA (2023-present) in France. He was member of the Astronomy Working Group of ESA during 2019-2021. Since 2013, he is the national representative at the Board of Directors of the scientific journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics”, serving as Vice Chair of the Board since 2021.

Dr Vassilios Bardakis, a registered Civil Engineer in Greece, is the Managing Director of “EBLECTON Consulting Engineers, Ltd.” Since the company’s founding in 2009, Dr. Bardakis has served as the Design Manager on numerous projects involving design, evaluation and retrofit issues, and including displacement-based design, retrofit of reinforced concrete, steel and masonry buildings, as well as tanks and bridges via nonlinear, static (pushover) and dynamic (time-history), analysis.

Dr Bardakis has also served as the Task leader on significant projects undertaken by large consortia with other consulting firms which include the evaluation and retrofit of prestressed concrete structures via nonlinear static (pushover) and dynamic (time-history) analysis.

Dr. Bardakis has also worked as a researcher (Univ. of Patras “University of Patras”, EU project LESSLOSS “Risk Mitigation for Earthquakes and Landslides”, NTUA “National Technical University of Athens”, GR project ASPROGE “Seismic Protection of Bridges”) and has participated in various committees (TCG “Technical Chamber of Greece”, EPPO “Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization”, ACEG “Association of Civil Engineers of Greece”). His experience includes detailed software development and extensive work on advanced seismic analysis with thousands of nonlinear time-history analyses of buildings and bridges.

Studies
Graduate of the 2nd High School of Vrilissia
Undergraduate Student at the Athens University of Economics and Business at the Department of International and European Economic Studies with specialization in International Economic and Financial Affairs

Foreign Languages
Proficiency Level English

Computer Use
Certificate of Computer Knowledge and Computer Use
Daily use of Microsoft Office, e-mail and internet

Interests
I am a member of the Student Registry of the National Authority for Higher Education.
I am General Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Pontian Union of Vrilissia and assistant dance teacher in its dance department.
I take part in the traditional dance lessons of the Association of Epirotes of Vrilissia.
I participate in the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Vrilissia, in which I play saxophone.
I have been involved in rhythmic gymnastics, volleyball, athletics, swimming and I have received medals in diving, gymnastics and fencing.

Individual Characteristics
Fluency of oral and written communication
Team spirit
Initiative
Consistency
Volunteering
Industriousness